


Not Quite There

by Ray_Writes



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Episode: s10e01 The Pilot, F/F, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 16:39:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13685586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ray_Writes/pseuds/Ray_Writes
Summary: Bill reaches out on a very particular day.





	Not Quite There

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Thought it was about high time I write something for our favorite immortal space lesbians again. This is set during "The Pilot", in between the two times Bill sees Heather at the puddle. Did my best to keep it canon-compliant, though. This is unbeta'd, so any mistakes are mine. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

Bill didn’t know how her life had changed so much in under a year. One minute she’d just been the chips girl at University, the next she was an aspiring student getting higher marks than she could ever remember. She still couldn’t quite figure out why the Doctor had picked her of all people to personally tutor; he was a hard one to figure out in general, really. But she liked to think they had something of a routine going by now.

And she had, well,  _ something _ going with Heather. The girl with the star in her eye that set Bill’s heart pounding whenever she so much as looked at her. Ever since that chance meeting of eyes across the crowded bar.

She knew she wanted more. She just didn’t know how to go about it. Heather was reserved in a way Bill absolutely was not, and she didn’t want to scare the other girl off. Even if she’d shown Bill her strange puddle and said she might be welcome along whenever Heather decided to leave the University.

Bill hadn’t seen her around since. She didn’t know how else to find her other than hanging about that construction site with the puddle, but would that just come off as creepy? She’d never successfully asked a girl out before. When was it alright to get her number?

She wished she’d bought Heather a drink that first night at the bar. Maybe they’d be going out now, stealing kisses between classes and texting late into the night.

It was the holiday that had her thinking this way, she knew. Bill couldn’t help it. She liked holidays, even if the celebrations never quite turned out like she would imagine them in her head. She liked giving gifts and making people smile, and ever since she’d known she liked girls she had wanted to have a Valentine to do that with. Heather didn’t smile often, but when she did it lit up her whole face.

She wondered what she’d get Heather, if she were her Valentine. Did she like chocolate? Or would she appreciate flowers better? Maybe she’d just want a nice dinner out somewhere, though that would mean Bill would have to know what kind of food she liked—

“Potts,” said her tutor, suddenly looming very close across the desk. Bill blinked and sat back.

“Errr, yeah?”

He frowned, the lines already creasing his face growing deeper. “I don’t like repeating myself.”

“Sorry,” said Bill. “Just thinking. Won’t happen again.”

“I certainly hope it will. Thinking is what we’re here for,” he said, sitting back as well. “What was it about?”

“What?”

He waved a hand vaguely. “Your thinking.”

“Oh.” Bill wondered for a moment if he was just trying to embarrass her; she had to have been making some gooey-eyed daydream face. Best to just come out and say it. “Valentines’ Day.”

Her professor blinked. “What?”

“February 14th? It’s this week.”

“You’re in possession of a calendar, then. That’s good.”

“Yeah, well, it’s also Valentines’ Day. You got plans?” She couldn’t resist asking.

He pursed his lips. “No.”

Bill nodded to herself. “Right.” She should’ve realized there was no getting that kind of information out of him.

“I suppose you have.”

Bill blinked. “What?”

The Doctor wasn’t quite looking at her, and he chewed on the side of his thumb before asking, “Chips girl, is it?”

It took a moment for her to catch up with his train of thought. “Oh! No. No, I don’t even know her name. It’s not, you know, serious, me and her.” Not that she and Heather were serious either, not the way Bill wanted to be.

“Right,” said the Doctor, slouched in his chair.

There was a very long pause where neither of them seemed to come up with a smooth way out of the current topic.

“Do we have to have this conversation? It’s just, I don’t think we’re there,” Bill finally blurted.

“Small talk is for people with empty heads,” her tutor agreed, pushing himself back up to sitting properly.

“Anyway, doesn’t matter. Not supposed to cancel on you, am I?”

He smiled briefly, obviously pleased. “No.”

Bill resolved to keep her focus on that night’s tutorial, and thought she managed decently enough. Writing her paper on it proved far more difficult than usual once she was home, however, and her thoughts were allowed to stray again.

She knew she’d been getting ahead of herself with her earlier daydreaming. Bill thought Heather liked her a bit, and she knew she liked Heather a lot — but maybe Heather didn’t know that.

Maybe that was where she ought to start.

—-

Heather wished she’d never come here.

She often wished that; when she was home, when she’d left for University in the vain hope that’d be better. But most importantly she wished she’d never found this puddle that wouldn’t go away.

It frightened her, yet she couldn’t seem to leave it alone. Why did it show her face the other way round? Why did it seem to draw her in?

She’d thought maybe showing it to Bill might help. Bill, who she felt drawn to in a no less frightening way. She’d told herself she’d be allowed to live as her real self at University, away from her parents, yet she was still scared. What if Bill didn’t really like her? What if she did?

Heather couldn’t ever seem to be happy, and she knew that was probably her own fault. She’d been destined to be a defect ever since she was born. Bill had made her feel less so, but she was afraid if she let herself get closer to the other girl, that feeling would prove only temporary. So she kept to herself and her puddle.

As she approached the fence, however, Heather noticed something different. There was a bit of paper stuffed into one of the gaps. Even more surprising, when she removed it, she found her name written on the outside.

Heather unfolded the note.

_ Hey, _ it began.

_ Roses are red, violets are blue _

_ You asked me to stare at a puddle, but I’d rather look at you. _

_ -Your Valentine (if you want) _

Heather looked around, but she was alone. Bill must have come and gone, maybe on her way to class.

It was the 14th, she realized dimly. She hadn’t given much thought to Valentine’s Day since she was very little. Back home she would have been too scared to even consider accepting one. Even here, she wouldn’t have thought to participate, at least not before Bill.

She looked back down at the note. The silly poem wasn’t something she’d ordinarily be impressed by, but just picturing Bill saying it...something made her smile. Heather folded it up carefully and tucked the note away. Then she left the site without even checking on the puddle for once.

Maybe she didn’t hate it here  _ so _ much.


End file.
